RE: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: Discovery Project: Which Mission Next?

["Howie DeFelice" <hdefelice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Very well put Tim.... The average age of the ham population clearly 
reflects our efforts to share the joy of our hobby, and in many cases our 
occupation as well, with children. There are many well publicized 
activities for kids to get involved in and many of them don't have the long 
term potential of ham radio. It's obvious the FO-29 controllers understand 
this and have the results to show for it. Look at the number of engineers 
graduating in Japan compared with the number of engineers graduating in the 
U.S.. Yes, I'm sure it is more than just using digitalker with kids and No, 
it's not AMSAT's responsibility to recruit new engineering talent, but I 
don't think it's a surprise that the ranks of licensed hams is a pretty 
accurate representation of the U.S. engineering pool, especially RF 
engineering. The recent comments by Mr. Hollingsworth of the FCC should 
really be a wake up call for us all. If hams want to continue enjoying free 
access to all this prime bandwidth, we have to start justifying it. Our 
licenses are a privilege, not a right.  Developing and proving new 
technology is one way, education and public service is another. I'm sure 
others can think up a few more.  Thanks for the great post....

Howie
AB2S

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